The influence of social media on fan reactionary behaviors

This study explores the influence of social media on social identity demonstration in the domain of fan reactionary behavior, specifically the medium's interaction with public fan expression behaviors and the types of behaviors that are typically exuded. Social identity theory and concepts of impression management were used to inform a multidimensional perspective that can help advance our understanding of sport-related social network posting behavior. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, a sample of 630 fans was surveyed about their sports-related posting across varying posting conditions. Results suggest that SNSs allow fans to express their status as members of certain groups and provide an additional dimension to social media uses and gratifications via a form of social identity demonstration. Fans high in team identification were found to be the heaviest users of social media for sports expression. SNSs, thus, serve as an accessible resource for fans to remain behaviorally active with sport consumption.